Mistaken ID cost Freddie Gaines 16 years
Freddie Lee Gaines was sentenced to thirty years in prison in 1974 for the murder of Mary Ann Wright based on the mistaken identification testimony of a non-victim witness. Gaines was exonerated in 1991, after the actual murderer confessed in detail to the killing. In 1996, the Alabama Legislature awarded Gaines $1 million for his wrongful conviction and imprisonment. — David L. Ridenour
Copyright © 2007, Center on Wrongful Convictions
Bluhm Legal Clinic, Northwestern University School of Law
